"Hanoi Jane" Takes Her Stand

AP reports today that has-been actress “Hanoi Jane” Fonda, infamous for wearing an enemy helmet and posing in 1972 sitting on a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun, and smiling with the gun-crew, has taken her stand on Iraq. Hanoi Jane says that she intends to take a cross-country bus tour to call for an end to US military involvement in Iraq.

The anti-war bus will supposedly run on “vegetable oil” although it seems probable that Hanoi Jane produces enough methane and hot air to power the thing all by her lonesome.

Hanoi Jane says that she has not “…taken a stand on any war since Vietnam” and that the bus tour is going to be "exciting." Yeah, right. The 70's are over, dear. Nixon resigned and we lost. As for your taking a stand: that’s important to know. You can bet that the foreign and military policy establishments burn gallons of the best Saudi midnight oil, wondering what Hanoi Jane the actress thinks about US policy towards North Korea, Iran, the war in Iraq or nuclear physics.

Attention terrorist high command: Call this lady's agent ! I’m sure you guys can find a suicide car bomb crew for her to pose with this time out.

Seriously, this should actually be a boon to the American war effort. I can’t think of a better way to rally support for the war than to have Hanoi Jane come out against it.

William Westmoreland, RIP

A general-in-chief has no right to shelter his mistakes in war under cover of his sovereign, or of a minister, when they are both distant from the scene of operations, and must consequently be either ill informed or wholly ignorant of the actual state of things.

Hence, it follows that every general is culpable who undertakes the execution of a plan which he considers faulty. It is his duty to represent his reasons, to insist upon a change of plan; in short to give in his resignation rather than allow himself to become the instrument of his army’s ruin. . .

Napoléon I, Maxims., LXXII, p. 79 (Ed. David G. Chandler, Macmillan, 1988)

From the first I contemplated eventually moving into Laos to cut and block the infiltration routes of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, and in 1966 and 1967 my staff prepared detailed plans for such an operation. . .Yet I recognized that blocking the trail would require at least a corps-size force of three divisions, and I would be unable for a long time to spare that many troops from the critical fight within South Vietnam. When at last, in 1968, our strength had increased sufficiently and the enemy had been depleted enough to make the move possible, President Johnson was so beset by war critics that he would take no step that might possibly be interpreted as broadening the war, which he had publicly announced he would not do.

* * *

In a discussion [in April 1967] . . .ex-presidential candidate Harold Stasssen asked if there was not some alternative strategy lying somewhere between a strategy of attrition and a strategy of annihilation. I replied that there was most certainly: block the Ho Chi Minh trail with ground troops. Yet Washington had ruled that out. . .

* * *

Yet, even with the handicap of graduated response, the war still could have been brought to a favorable end following the defeat of the enemy’s Tet offensive in 1968. The United States had in South Vietnam at that time the finest military force – though not the largest, ever assembled. The build-up of troops and the logistical support base were slow in coming, but at last they were there ready for decisive action. Had the president allowed a change in strategy and taken advantage of the enemy’s weakness to enable the command to carry out operations planned over the preceding two years in Laos and Cambodia and north of the DMZ . . .the North Vietnamese doubtless would have broken. But that was not to be.

General William C. Westmoreland, A Soldier Reports, (Doubleday, 1976, 1980, pp. 199, 297, 542).

William Childs Westmoreland, commander of US forces in the Republic of Vietnam from 1964-1968, then Chief of Staff of the US Army, died last week at 91. Ernest B. Furguson’s biography of the General is entitled: Westmoreland: The Inevitable General which almost perfectly sums up peers’ expectations of William Westmoreland from the moment he left West Point in 1936.

Commissioned into the artillery, Westmoreland entered World War II with the 9th Infantry Division, commanding artillery battalions in North Africa and Sicily, and becoming Chief of Staff of the division. Westmoreland rapidly caught the eye of three stars in the Army hierarchy: the Airborne generals Matthew Ridgway, Maxwell Taylor, and James Gavin, By the end of the war, Westmoreland was a full colonel.

Shortly after the war Westmoreland transferred to the infantry, and was offered command of a regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division, then as now, one of the Army’s elite formations. The Army’s confidence in Westmoreland may be more adequately weighed when it is considered that during this time, the Army shrank in size from approximately 100 divisions to 16. While Westmoreland was serving with the 82nd Airborne, General Eisenhower, then Army Chief of Staff, is said to have ordered his personnel chief to prepare a list of 10-15 officers who had shown extraordinary promise during World War II: a group to be groomed as future Army movers and shakers. Membership in this circle has been debated, but almost all agree that Westmoreland was in it, along with his successor as commander in Vietnam, Creighton Abrams.

After his stint with the 82nd Airborne Division, an oddity emerges: In 1949, Westmoreland went to the Army’s Command and General Staff College (CGSC) at Fort Leavenworth, not as a student – but an instructor. Westmoreland in fact never attended the staff colleges: the CGSC, the Army War College, the National Defense University – which are the usual stops for somebody destined for senior military command. Westmoreland had a perfectly good excuse of course: he had been too busy doing – serving in the field with troops.

Then the Korean Conflict came along: Westmoreland did not go immediately, but when he did, it was in command of possibly the most coveted unit available for a colonel: the 187th Infantry Regimental Combat Team (Airborne) – a separate reinforced parachute regiment previously commanded by a Brigadier General. Westmoreland did well enough in Korea to garner a Brigadier General’s star at the young age of 38, but Korea meant there was little further time for education, other than a three month course in advanced management at Harvard Business School.

Westmoreland thus rose to very lofty command rank absent the theoretical and intellectual education normally considered a routine requirement. Westmoreland’s position as commander in Vietnam required from him not only the ability to command troops, and plan and direct their operations; but meant he needed to actively participate in the evaluation of political and military intelligence; in the formulation of national and theatre strategy, the making of logistical and force-structure plans, and engage in continual interaction with US and foreign politicians and with the media. Westmoreland became what Napoléon called a “general in chief” in probably the most politically and strategically complex war America ever fought with arguably insufficient intellectual ballast.

But command in war was Westmoreland’s destiny, and there is no doubt that he discharged it to the best of his ability. But one wonders if the man was out of his depth ? Westmoreland arrived in Vietnam in 1964, and presided over the US escalation of that conflict. When Westmoreland arrived in-country, there were 16,000 US troops. By 1968, the force under his command had swollen to over 500,000.

The full history of the escalation of US involvement in Vietnam, and the battles during his tenure is beyond the scope of this piece, but some discussion is in order. Westmoreland shattered several North Vietnamese regular infantry divisions at Khe Sanh in 1967-1968, inflicting disproportionately huge losses on the enemy. Similarly, in 1968, Westmoreland won the biggest American battle of the war, making a shambles of the Viet Cong’s “Tet Offensive” that was supposed to end the war in the communists’ favor.

Perhaps the finest hour of Westmoreland’s military life was his decision to abandon the Tet cease-fire and alert US and South Vietnamese forces when it became clear that a massive communist offensive was imminent. His decision won this battle and saved thousands of lives. After Tet, the Viet Cong were finished as a political and military factor: the war would be decided, ultimately, by North Vietnamese regular troops. Westmoreland’s “big unit” war of 1967-1968 kept the harried Viet Cong away from the South Vietnamese cities and allowed the South Vietnamese time to build an army.

Yet arguably, Westmoreland devoted insufficient time and attention to this latter task: leaving the heavy lifting on this task for his successor, Creighton Abrams. Westmoreland allowed the South Vietnamese to become too dependant on the Americans. At its most elemental level, war is decided by the successful mastery of time, space and available forces. Lyndon Johnson controlled the space in which the war would be fought; he controlled the available forces; and, as for time, Westmoreland appears to have failed to appreciate its strategic importance: the need to win the Vietnam War, or making it appear, politically, that it could be won, before the patience of the American people was exhausted.

Westmoreland presented the Johnson administration with plans that would have undoubtedly ensured the survival of the Republic of Vietnam and an American victory. This involved the expansion of the war to Laos and Cambodia in 1967-69, and the movement of large numbers of US forces into those countries and possibly into the southern parts of North Vietnam to block the Ho Chi Minh Trail (by which Hanoi supplied both the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese troops in the South). This would have required about 200,000 additional US troops, and the mobilization of US reserves: both from the Army Reserve component and from the National Guard. (90,000 of these troops would not have left the US; they would have reconstituted the US strategic reserve, which is what Westmoreland would get). The Johnson Administration balked.

With this decision, it became clear in retrospect, the United States, and the people of South Vietnam, lost the war. The liberals protest that the US violated the neutrality of Laos and Cambodia: however, neutrality has obligations – these countries were unable and unwilling to prevent the violation of their neutrality by North Vietnam. When the United States failed to block the Ho Chi Minh trail (thus isolating the battlefield), it tied its own hands: limiting itself to a second-best strategy of attrition, that is, attempting to wear down North Vietnam by totaling up “body counts” – by destruction of its units within South Vietnam. Since the Ho Chi Minh trail could not be interdicted, this was a losing proposition.

It is Westmoreland’s reaction to the Johnson administration’s rejection of his strategy – the right strategy: the strategy that would have vindicated the sacrifices of 50,000 Americans and hundreds of thousands of South Vietnamese, that would have meant the triumph of our just cause -- that is deserving of scrutiny. Westmoreland was the commander in the field, the man supposedly entrusted by the government with planning the battles and winning the war. He presented a plan for doing so. The government rejected it: and he took it in silence. Why didn’t he resign, as Napoléon would have suggested ?

Admittedly, this is a close call: a soldier’s first duty is obedience, particularly to his political superiors. But a soldier owes a duty to those he commands: to ensure that their sacrifices are not wasted, that the shedding of their blood matters. A commander must be willing to “stand in the door” for his soldiers, he must tell his political boss when he is wrong, and if the politician rejects his advice, he should tender his resignation. By his silence, Westmoreland allowed the Johnson administration to hide behind his uniform: to conceal its timidity behind its general's loyalty and his medals.

The Johnson administration thus disposed of Force and Space, and Time ran out after the Tet Offensive, The Tet Offensive battle, thanks largely to Westmoreland, was an American victory. But with no apparent strategy to win the war in sight: the American people concluded the strategy was bankrupt, and, in El Jefe’s opinion wrongly, withdrew support from the struggle. Millions of South Vietnamese are still paying the price.

Shortly after Tet, the Johnson administration kicked the General upstairs, making him Chief of Staff of the Army, and replacing him with Creighton Abrams, probably a better commander, who focused on building up the South Vietnamese armed forces, in the little time he had left before the American abandonment of South Vietnam. The Nixon administration treated General Westmoreland rather shabbily, although his tenure as Army Chief of Staff during the sad years of impending defeat in Vietnam would have been difficult under the best of circumstances.

After the war, General Westmoreland wrote an excellent memoir, A Soldier Reports, which is required reading for anybody interested in the Vietnam War. He ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for Governor of South Carolina; sued CBS for libel over a television “documentary” called The Uncounted Enemy; and served as a target for various groups of anti- war liberals unfit to shine his shoes.

General Westmoreland lived until 91, thus outlasting most of his contemporaries. He seems to have been blessed with a singularly happy home life. With some perspective, and appreciation of the political and social forces that he had to contend with, we can see now that General Westmoreland was thrown into a hopelessly complex political and military situation for which his education, experience and training supplied no precedents; and in which he was inadequately supported. History will be kind to him.

The General will be buried on the grounds of the Military Academy at West Point, of which he was, at one time, the commandant. Rest in peace.

Baker's Dozen, or Lagniappe

El Jefe is back in his capital after vacation with the family. All kinds of stuff going on requiring comment by El Jefe, but he has been busy catching up at work, and flogging his capos and peons for their laziness in his absence.

Presently working on a piece on the death of General Westmoreland (US commander in Vietnam), the elections in Iran, and the war in Iraq. Plenty of other things happening too. The Chinese have, this morning, severed the link between the value of the yuan and the dollar, and have raised the official value of the yuan. This will make Chinese imports more expensive, and in theory help exports.

Wonder when the other shoe is going to drop ? Are the Chinese going to keep buying our debt ? We'd better hope so, at least for awhile. Speaking of shoes, the Chinese military is getting lots of new shoes and other things, the Pentagon's annual public report on Chinese military power came out yesterday. It's worth a look: the Chicoms are arming to the teeth, and the new report describes what that means. Still reading mine (it's 45 pp.), and hopefully will have some comments in time.

On the subject of China's military, have a look at Max Boot's article in the Los Angeles Times yesterday, particularly his discussion of the book Unrestricted Warfare, a sort of "how to beat the US" by two Chinese colonels. Unfortunately for us, the colonels seem to be pretty bright, and I've sent for a copy of the book. Basically, the colonels contend that going toe-to-toe with the US is a loser, so before this can happen, the Colossus has to be worn down with "financial warfare," "drug warfare," "psychological and media warfare," "ecological warfare," and my favorite: "international law warfare." This last involves using multinational organizations to block US action. Once the lawyers, reporters and crooks have us tied in knots, only then do the Chinese need to whip out the missiles, ships and paratroops to cause the "enemy" (us) to be "forced to sign a dishonorable peace treaty." Clever SOB's eh ? Wish they were our SOB's.

Al Qaeda and terrorism seem like big worries now, but just imagine Al Qaeda, drug lords, and international criminals who possess the covert backing of a big, rich world power. We won't be imagining it long: it's coming to a world near us. Here's another little prediction. Within ten years, the Chinese will have missiles and troops all over Latin America (keep an eye on Chavez and Venezuela, and our Sandinista friends in Nicaragua).

Makes one positively nostalgic for the Cold War doesn't it ? This Cold War is much more dangerous because the Chinese aren't stupid enough to hobble themselves with a joke economic system like Soviet communism. (Yes, the Chinese call themselves communist, but they really practice a cross between state capitalism and fascism). We're not going to be the richest player in this game either.

I wish I were young ! I'd learn Chinese, Russian or Hindi. We need alliances with the last two powers, and the Chinese are going to be the enemy.

Sorry if all this war and rumor of war talk is uninteresting to some, but it's interesting to El Jefe, who is doing the typing. Given that the Heir is age 9, it's much more interesting, in fact, than El Jefe would like it to be. Unfortunately, as that old commie bastard Leon Trotsky once said: "you may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you."

Somebody Call Karl

Big news in the legal world: the President's going to announce his Supreme Court pick tonight. Suppose the delayed announcement is to give the riot police time to draw their gear and get properly fed, and to give the unfortunate soul to whom the cup is being passed a last few hours of normal existence.

Who can it be ? Take a guess...bookies everyplace are waiting for your call.

Wonder if any of Karl Rove's reporter pals have called him ? Those who aren't in the slammer, that is. Maybe he'd be willing to leak the name a bit early.

El Jefe Out of Town

El Jefe today departs his capital, seen off by the assembled Corps Diplomatique; his regiments of loyal goombas, including "El Jefe's Own" parading by in their full dress Chicago/New York mobster uniforms, (each toting his presentation model Classic Mobster Thompson M1928AI submachine gun); and a cast of thousands of well-wishers. El Jefe waived to the cheering throngs as he rode through the city, Cosmo in one hand, all the while, to SWMBO's intense irritation, carrying on a conversation with himself about Clausewitz, Napoléon, Churchill or some other Dead White Male.

El Jefe leaves with his family, bartenders, cooks, valets, mistresses, barbers and bottle-washers, and his books, papers, swimming and hiking gear, plus his faithful laptop "Sancho" for the boonies of central Texas for summer vacation. The original destination was Seaside, FL, but an unfortunate series of events involving Hurricanes Dennis the Menace and his bimbo cohort Cindy, rained on that parade. Fear not, El Jefe will return, at which time the blogging will continue till morale improves.

Bombings in London

By now everyone has heard of the latest terrorist outrage in London: at least 40 killed, hundreds wounded. All the fingerprints of Al Qaeda – a civilian target, not a military one, civilian casualties, an urban area with media coverage. No doubt the bombs will all have been expertly constructed and concealed – a real professional job.

But the bomb makers and their infrastructure could not operate without financing, the quiet sympathy and support of people willing to hide them – and governments in the Middle East willing to look the other way while this goes on. As long as non-violent financial, political, and moral support for the jihadists is tolerated, none of us will be safe.

The jihadists are barbarians, all mired in the 11th Century: partly evil, malicious children, destroying for destruction’s sake; partly religious fanatics; partly butchers so certain we will never retaliate in kind. They do not fear us sufficiently. In general, that’s the problem with terrorists and their sympathizers in the Islamic street: the lack of fear. If not for themselves, then fear for their relations and their societies.

The barbarians need an education. One place where learning can be imparted is in the rebellious areas of Iraq. The coalition commanders should be encouraged to prosecute the war against the terrorists there with vigor, and to ensure that sympathizers of the terrorists, armed or no, pay a price for concealing, aiding and abetting attacks on coalition or Iraqi government forces. Meanwhile, if the generals in Iraq want more troops, they should get them, and spare no efforts to ensure every bullet finds its billet in as many terrorists as possible.

Another place for concentration of effort is in putting the squeeze on Al Qaeda and the jihadist movement’s covert supporters. Terrorists have to be recruited, indoctrinated, trained and armed. This is a big operation. Car bombers are not the brains end of their organizations. All this takes a pool of willing recruits, and an expert cadre of instructors and commanders. This must all be paid for. Until we go after the financial, moral and intellectual supporters of the terrorists, we’re going to get nowhere. This means bringing pressure to bear on the Syrians, the Saudis and the Pakistanis.

It’s time for a harder war. Lets not wait for the bad guys to bring the war to us. We should stop worrying about the lawyers, Guantanamo and the UN and take the war to the enemy.

"Deep Impact" Will Have Deep Impact

Yesterday, 83 million miles from Earth, part of NASA’s Deep Impact space-probe slammed into Comet Tempel 1 at 23,000 miles per hour, the impact occurring with a force equivalent to four tons of TNT. The impact, caught on camera and transmitted back to Earth by Deep Impact’s second stage, hovering nearby, “stunned scientists” with its size and brightness, says today’s New York Times.

Radio communications between ground stations and Deep Impact take more than seven minutes each way, at 83,000,000 miles distance, so the final rendezvous of Deep Impact and Comet Tempel 1 (both moving objects), was controlled by the spacecraft’s own internal guidance system, which, three hours prior to impact, made three different course maneuvers to hit a particular, well-lit spot on the sunny side of Tempel 1. The probe impacted “right on target.”

Quite a triumph for NASA, and the Principal Investigators on the project at the University of Maryland and at Brown University, and for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California; but around the world, the general staffs of the major powers have just been shown something quite ominous, for them. The Pentagon, for its part, should be quite pleased.

Deep Impact demonstrates beyond argument that robot spacecraft can intercept fast moving objects, at great distance, under their own power and navigational control. The interceptor was able to alter its course to pick the best spot for interception – all while moving at 23,000 miles per hour. The military implications should be obvious: Not only does the United States have the ability to intercept comets for scientific purposes, or to attempt deflection of comets or asteroids threatening collision with the Earth – but the same technologies can be used to intercept other items – such as Ballistic Missile warheads. Deep Impact shows that Ballistic Missile Defense can succeed, and that the United States can be made safe from missile attack, assuming it summons the political will to spend the money.

There is no excuse now not to proceed with Ballistic Missile Defense. Most assuredly Deep Impact’s success yesterday will spur other powers to do so.

Stuff In Progress

Thought I'd have a post this evening (something on the recent Iranian "election"), but I am just too tired to complete it this evening. Off to get the Heir out of camp tomorrow, so it will have to wait until sometime early next week.

Am working on a couple of other things also: something on the make-up of the Iranian rebel forces; a post on the outbreak of the First World War; and one on the implications of current Chinese military developments. But not tonight. A good book awaits, together with a glass of decent Scotch.

Ta ta.

Make Some Popcorn, Find the Beer

The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, parent of the notoriously liberal PBS, has just appointed a former Republican Party co-chairman, Ms. Patricia S. Harrison, as its new President. Ms. Harrison is presently the Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs.

Just last week, Democrats in Congress were urging that selection of a new President be put off, because they were concerned about Republican political pressure.

This is going to be so much FUN ! The Deaniac set is positively going to go into orbit. Pop the popcorn, and open the beer, the Lefties are getting ready to have community apoplexy.

It Ain't the Flag That's Burning, It's Rome

In the midst of our troubles, when the military is short recruits; when the borders are overrun by hordes of Central American and Mexican peasants; when we have schools that don't work; when we have a pension system that's imploding; and are spending the national fiscal inheritance of the Heir and his friends like drunken sailors; and destroying our economy letting in gimcrack imports from Asia manufactured by Chinese prison labor, it's good to know we can rely on the House of Representatives to come to our rescue with salutary legislation like a constitutional amendment stating that Congress can outlaw flag burning. Favorable consideration by the Senate is widely expected, so no doubt this worthy legislation will soon form a part of the Constitution.

Well, maybe not, at this point, it doesn't look like the Senate could pass a bill acknowledging that the Sun rises in the east. Still, who cares ?

Don't get me wrong. I despise flag-burners; if I were Emperor of America instead of head of my own nefarious and vast criminal empire, I'd have flag-burners and their ilk drawn and quartered, and then my goombas could get started on some serious persecuting. Dick Durbin, Illinois's poor excuse for a Senator, would think that Guantanamo was a resort by comparison. But this is Terri Schiavo again. Congress is grandstanding with fluff that, however worthy, is not their proper concern, rather than earning their paychecks. I'd much rather see Congress get serious about the war, the borders and the treasury.

This is Republican control of government ? Nonsense -- nobody's in charge. Part of this is the consequence of Bush being a lame duck: he's not running for re-election, so nobody has to be afraid of him being around past 2008. Part of this is the consequence of a constitutional system that is in these polarized times increasingly difficult to operate, because the built-in checks and balances operate as a bias against the production of real legislation under the best of conditions. Most of the paralysis bedeviling Washington is the product of a unified Democratic Party, which stands for nothing but the word "No !" shouted loudly, product of its sour grapes over losing the last several elections; and its desire to in effect punish the President (and us for voting for him) by sending us all to bed without our suppers.

Since nothing of significance can be accomplished, we can kill trees by outlawing flag-burning. Wise readers will immediately buy stock in flag-manufacturing companies, who stand to do well when all the Leftie Yahoos go buy flags to perform their gallant and heroic acts of civil disobedience.

Iranian "Elections"

The Iranians are having their “election” today. Despite the multiplicity of candidates, the quotes around “election” are fully deserved. A real election implies choice. For the Iranian people, 70 percent of whom are under 30 and have no memory of the Revolution of 1979 that founded the Islamic tyranny, the choice presented today is rather like the choice between being hanged or shot.

The Islamic Republic is a sham that is neither Islamic, nor a Republic. It is instead a con game wherein unelected clerics rig the election for Powerless President by deciding who may run and who may not, and then using the chosen patsy as a sock-puppet when he is finally “elected.” The incumbent president, the so-called reformist Mohammad Khatami, had the power to do little beyond order no-doubt impressive business cards and perhaps re-arrange the chairs in his reception room.

As a foreigner, who wishes the Iranian people well, El Jefe begs leave to doubt whether the last Iranian Revolution was worth it at all. Revolutions seldom establish liberty, but instead, they lead to the construction of greater and more dangerous tyrannies. This was the pattern in the French and Russian Revolutions, and the same has held true in Iran.

What’s the solution ? Certainly, today’s New York Times offers no useful advice, today saying that: “[f]or all of its multiple flaws, this election is the best tool available to the Iranian people to indicate which way they want their troubled country to head over the next four years.” Typical New York Times logic: "yeah, things are bad, but tell the slobs who didn't go to Harvard to take their gruel and shut up."

Beg pardon, but legitimizing the non-choice presented by Iran’s clerical tyrants by participating in their fake election is no help at all. As the Regime Change Iran blog says here, (quoting Iranian blogger): “A vote for any of these candidates is approval of poverty, oppression, prostitution, humiliation, frustration, brain drain…” Absolutely right. Here’s to Iranians who stay home today, who deny their criminal masters legitimization through their votes.

Happy Birthday US Army

As my friend the Merry Mad Monk reminds us, here, today's the U.S. Army's birthday. The Army is in fact older than the country it defends: what is now the United States Army was founded by the Continental Congress's decision to raise ten companies of riflemen for the Boston siege of General Thomas Gage's British Army.

Some units of the U.S. Army and the National Guard are even older, tracing their ancestry to pre-Revolutionary militia units. Among the oldest are the 181st and 182 Infantry Regiments, both tracing their ancestry to militia units raised in Boston in 1636.

There are units which followed other flags, yet were still in the service of America. The 116th Infantry Regiment of the Virginia National Guard also predates the Revolution, tracing its ancestry to the Virginia militia. Under another name, the 116th marched with Stonewall Jackson, carrying the banners of the Confederate States at First and Second Manassas, Winchester, Sharpsburg and Gettysburg, among other places. Years later that very same unit was among the first ashore at Omaha Beach, on 6 June 1944, suffering 800 casualties that day at places named Les Moulins and Vierville-sur-Mer.

Happy Birthday U.S. Army, present and past. Wherever and whenever you carried the flag for us, thank you. We owe you more than it is possible to calculate, or to repay.

Wolf at the Door

We need your help! Speak out to your representative, contact one of the organizations at http://www.kubatana.net; or if you know anyone in Zimbabwe spread the message, we are going to stand up for what's rightfully ours.

The Zimbabwean Pundit, post of 6 June 2005.

As you sit at your computer reading this, the government of Zimbabwe has, deliberately, with malice aforethought, driven nearly a million people from their homes, which were promptly razed. The bandit Mugabe regime calls this “Operation Murambatsvina” (meaning “drive out trash”).

The Drive Out Trash campaign is punishment for the urban poor and others who had the temerity to support the opposition political party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) in elections last March, and in the previous two elections. Mugabe and his henchmen have evidently decided to depopulate the urban areas of the country (much like Pol Pot in Cambodia) to see that this does not happen again.

There is nobody, in Zimbabwe, at least, who can stop Mugabe now, after the blatantly fraudulent Parliamentary elections. Mugabe has a sufficient majority to change the constitution, wiping out the last remains of the democracy foisted on Mugabe’s ZANU-PF party when Rhodesia gave way to Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe was once relatively prosperous – Winston Churchill, in former times, called the country the “pearl of Africa.” Today, 80 percent of working age persons in Zimbabwe are unemployed. Mugabe’s regime systematically destroyed the nation’s agricultural system – expropriating farms and vast tracts of land to reward his supporters. The Mugabe regime has driven out foreign capital, and is in the last stages of expropriating and driving into exile or impoverishment his country’s most educated and productive citizens, because they’re primarily of European descent, their families in Zimbabwe for generations. Food is desperately short. The United Nations is estimating that between 3 and 4 million Zimbabweans face starvation unless food aid arrives. Even aid is no real solution – Mugabe and his thugs routinely steal aid supplies and hoard them for their supporters. Many people, including so many, many children, are, most assuredly, going to die.

With so many humanitarian tragedies in this world, most of us in America and in Europe are relatively inured to yet another African disaster. The Sudan, Rwanda, Somalia – so many deaths. What makes Zimbabwe’s plight so monstrous is that this holocaust is being deliberately induced, created, as a matter of state policy, in the same way that the Nazis murdered the Jews, or the Soviets murdered much of their peasantry. Where are our liberal friends now ? Where are the bleeding hearts incessantly screaming about US atrocities in Iraq, or the plight of the Palestinians, or the “victims” at Guantanamo ? The silence is deafening. Mugabe, of course, is a longtime darling of the international left…

Meanwhile, tyrant Mugabe opened his puppet Parliament today, arriving in a Rolls Royce, medals on his chest, inspecting his honor guard, and calling for “unity.” Best thing for Zimbabwe would be Mugabe swinging from a lamppost.

Prince on a Hunger Strike

Daily Briefing on Iran, a good source for events in that country, reports that H.I.H. Prince Reza of Iran, exiled son of the late Shah, has announced plans to go on a hunger strike for three days (starting tomorrow), in solidarity with Iran’s many political prisoners. He has also urged Iranians to boycott the sham elections that the bandits that run the so-called-Islamic Not-a-republic are holding on 17 June. As the Prince points out, Iran is only country in the world "whose written constitution specifically denies that sovereignty belongs to its citizens."

I’ve been a Prince Reza watcher, and admirer, for years. I have always thought that had his father abdicated in time, or died a few years sooner, Prince Reza would have succeeded to the Peacock Throne, there would have been no Khomeni regime, and the last 25 years would have been happier for Iran and the whole Middle East. Ironic that the son of the late Shah is the most articulate and visible spokesman for a more liberal Iran.

Iran is full of people who don’t like the present regime, and who want better relations with the United States. This doesn’t mean that the demise of the present regime would open the doors to perpetual sweetness and light – Iranians of all political stripes, for example, would support their country’s acquisition of nuclear weapons. That’s okay. A sane, but nationalist, liberal regime, that held real elections, would be a vast improvement over today’s false republic, actually a theocratic tyranny, with its so-called morality police, torture chambers, its jailings and murder of opponents. Here’s hoping there’s a free Iran someday.

UPDATE: Something is stirring in Iran this morning. Iran defeated Bahrain for a World Cup, 2006 qualification, and celebrations of this event have apparently turned into anti-regime demonstrations. There are apparently riots in cities all over the country, and the citizens are attacking the regime's riot police. Check out Regime Change Iran, (links in this post and in the blogroll) which is following this closely.

Coming Attractions

El Jefe has lots of things working, but not much ready for posting just yet. Among other things, I’m working on (1) a discussion of the Korea nuclear issue; (2) endgame for the insurgency in Iraq; (3) the wider war against Al Qaeda; (4) something on the First World War; (5) a food and wine entry; and, (6) life now that Heir is at camp for the next month. Some of these require a bit of background reading that I have not completed yet.

Meanwhile, there’s always the day job, (yawn) and fantasies about escaping to my vast Palace by the Sea to oversee my armies of servants, enjoy my wine collection, vast fortune, and the attentions of my numerous babe paramours, and receive petitioners and well-wishers. Stay tuned.

Aiding our Enemies

The Associated Press (via the Washington Post and Drudge) reports today that former US President Bill Clinton has urged French President Jacques Chirac not to be discouraged by the recent rejection of the proposed EU constitution by voters in France and Holland. Mr. Clinton reportedly suggested that Mr. Chirac “listen to voters’ concerns” and “go back to work.”

Now why would a former American President give advice and encouragement to the anointed leader of anti-American political forces in Europe and elsewhere ? Why would he offer counsel calculated to assist and support in the creation of a politically unified EU, one of the primary purposes of which, according to its backers, is to serve as a counterpoise to the US ?

Clearly, these questions don't concern former US President Clinton. Or, au contraire, perhaps they do, but Mr. Clinton thinks that creating a rival for the US is a good thing. After all, Nationalism is usually considered a great evil by lefties.

Why is Mr. Clinton still popular with Democrats ? Stupid question. Perhaps a better one is: why would an American vote for a Democrat, for anything, ever again ?

Remembering the Alamo

This weekend, El Jefe and SWMBO took the Heir to summer camp up near Kerrville. Following some begging by the Heir, en route, we stopped in San Antonio to view the Alamo, which the Heir had never seen. When he was 7 years old, the Heir used to tramp around the house and yard in his pseudo-coonskin cap with his toy musket, and watch all those old movies Fess Parker made in the 50’s portraying Davy Crockett. We’ve seen John Wayne die in celluloid at the Alamo countless times, so I suppose an Alamo trip was inevitable at some point.

The Alamo sits smack-dab in the middle of Downtown San Antonio, on Alamo Plaza, which, as we will discuss momentarily, is more descriptive a name than one might think. Driving in San Antonio can be a reasonably surreal experience to out-of-towners like us, but our handy-dandy Yahoo-generated map guided through the pinball maze of streets safely to the Alamo over streets named Bonham, Bowie and Crockett.

The Alamo is maintained by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, who do a good job running the place with very little money and thousands of visitors annually to cope with. It's obscene but true that the State of Texas contributes nothing whatever to the Alamo's upkeep. However, “Alamo” is really misleading, because most of the mission/fort defended by Colonel Travis and his brave companions in 1836 is just gone – swallowed by downtown San Antonio. All that’s left of the original mission is the church itself, part of the attached corral, and the quarters for the mission’s friars, known to students of the Battle of the Alamo as the “Long Barracks.”

Pause a moment in the mission room where the Alamo’s women and children sheltered during the attack. This room appears to be in more or less original condition, and with a little imagination you can visualize waiting there nearly two hundred years ago, listening to the occasional boom of the big guns, the rattle-bang of the muskets, and the shouts of men in desperate peril. Equally moving is the nearby Long Barracks, where at the end of the battle, bands of Mexican soldiers fought room to room, up close and personal, bitter close-quarters infantry combat with bayonet, pistol and musket-butt, flushing-out the last desperate survivors of the Texian garrison.

Forget the kitschy souvenirs in the nearby gift shop (although your purchases do help support the Alamo), and go outside, back onto Alamo Plaza. This place -- the best spot to stop, sit and think for a minute is ignored by most Alamo tourists, all intent on getting into the generally recognized mission church that means “Alamo” to most people. But the heart of the 1836 Alamo used to be Alamo Plaza itself. The big, 1936 statue in the center of the Plaza – between the mission church and the shops along the south side of the Plaza – was the middle of the Alamo defended by Travis’s men in 1836.

The entry area in front of the Shrine, that is, the Alamo mission entrance, where a sign enjoins visitors to keep voices low, and gentlemen to remove their hats, is right near where the low palisade that Davy Crockett defended stood. Colonel Travis is believed to have died near the steps of the US Post Office, on the north side of Alamo Plaza, which was about where the north wall of the Alamo once rested.

There’ve been many books about the Alamo, but my own favorite is still Walter Lord’s A Time to Stand, published in 1961. Mr. Lord, a journalist turned historian, gets most of the facts right, tells a splendid story, gives good brief sketches of the protagonists, and throws in a sound evaluation of the military situation without all of the tedious social-history ruminations on class and race which are de rigueur for anything written today. As a bonus, he gives an excellent account of the Battle of San Jacinto.

Driving from Houston to see the Alamo enhanced the whole experience, at least for me. You may have figured out by now that military history is possibly a minor interest of El Jefe’s. In any case, the most interesting aspect of the Texian War for Independence for me is the period after the Alamo: that is to say wondering about the question of how General Santa Anna, (who did a splendid piece of work organizing, supplying and moving a Mexican army over the northern Mexican deserts and into Texas), managed to take the Alamo, wipe out the biggest Texian force (Fannin’s little army round Goliad), and still manage to lose the war.

Driving from Houston (site of San Jacinto) to the Alamo supplies part of an answer. Other than being in the Alamo, I can’t imagine a fate worse than being some poor Mexican conscript, probably with no shoes, walking across Texas in March/April, rainstorms alternating with heat, a river in flood to ford every couple of days, and having to fight a battle at the end of it, all the time hoping for something to eat. Meanwhile, Santa Anna, probably concerned about Houston escaping over the US border, wore his army out with longer and longer marches. To the Mexican soldier, Texas must have seemed endless. The Alamo has had lots of books written, but I think the wider war still awaits its historian. In any case, the Alamo trip was an interesting little excursion.

4 June 1942

Went the day well ?
We died and never knew.
But, well or ill,
Freedom, we died for you.
John Maxwell Edmonds, London Times, 6 February 1918

Today is the anniversary of the Battle of Midway, the turning point of World War II in the Pacific. Sixty-three years ago today a handful of U.S. aviators, (Navy of course, but also Marines and Army Air Forces) outnumbered, outgunned, some scarcely trained - defeated the cream of Japanese naval aviation and exacted partial revenge for Pearl Harbor by sending carriers Akagi, Kaga, Hiryu and Soryu to the bottom. From 7 December 1941 until that day, the U.S. was on the defensive in the Pacific. No longer. At Midway, the United States, in Gordon Prange's words, put aside the shield and picked up the sword.

America and Japan deployed vast fleets that day -- hundreds of ships, crewed by thousands of men. But the battle was won by about 100 pilots in their twenties, many of whom paid with their lives. Sixty years on, we've lost or are losing the World War II veterans. Some, killed that day in 1942 or soon after, are forever young in the memories of their families and their country. Do not forget Waldron, Osmus, McClusky, Lindsey, Gay and all the others. Think of them today and every 4th June.

The Koran and Guantanamo

The media is having a feeding frenzy over Guantanamo again, this time, we are told, because interrogators (1) kicked the Koran, and/or (2) permitted urine to touch it.

Why are we hearing about this ? Would it be news in the American and European press, at least of a similar magnitude if soldiers someplace (1) kicked the Bible; and/or (2) permitted urine to touch it ? We all know the answer, don't we ?

The reason we are hearing about this now is because the mass media has closed ranks around Newsweek, which ran a false Koran desecration story last month. The Bush administation was, for some reason, upset about the resulting riots and killings all over the Muslim world, and had the gall to criticize Newsweek. Clearly, the imperialist U.S. administration must be punished for its temerity, so the newsies have since spent every waking hour looking under rocks for any poor sap that even so much as snarled in the Koran's direction.

Hurray. Now the media's found some patsies and can be "vindicated." Of course, the predictable new round of rioting and killing is of no consequence, and will help the media sell papers, and cripple the American war effort. A win-win for the press. Meanwhile, the interests of poor Mrs. Jones from Nowheresville, Mississippi, who loses her only son in Afghanistan when his Army unit breaks up a riot of angry Koran-thumpers can be completely disregarded -- unless she wants to get in print by blaming the Bush administation for her son's death.

What world do these people live in ? Why does freedom of the press include the right to depress support for the war effort ? Can you imagine the press running similar stories about the mistreatment of, say, Japanese prisoners of war sixty years ago ? Now you know damn well this went on, but somehow the media bosses of the day managed to avoid putting such stories on page one. Too right they did, because the public of those days, serious people who knew where their bread was buttered, would have roasted the editors of such publications on a spit.

3 June 1965

Today is the 40th anniversary of the first walk in space by a U.S. astronaut, Lieutenant-Colonel (USAF) Edward H. White, II, of the spacecraft Gemini IV. Tethered to the spacecraft, and carrying a camera to record some stunning photographs of Earth, plus a "zip gun" propulsion device to move himself around, Colonel White enjoyed his fifteen minute walk outside the capsule so much that Mission Control had to prompt him rather emphatically to come back inside: “Gemini IV, Get Back In !” Colonel White’s crewmate, James McDivitt, didn’t get an opportunity to go outside, having to content himself with watching and relaying messages from the ground.

Colonel White died a tragically untimely death: killed in the Apollo 204 disaster, 27 January 1967. Just 36 years old at the time of his death, he left a wife and two children.